


Good Morning Messages

by ArabellaTurner



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Fix-It, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Jared Kleinman Needs Love, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Texting, these soft boys are soft and need hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 01:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20921726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArabellaTurner/pseuds/ArabellaTurner
Summary: "Every morning since their fall out, Jared sent the same message. “Good morning, Evan. I hope you have a wonderful day!” He never did get a response.Of course, it didn’t make any sense for him to get a response. After all, he didn’t send it to a real number. There was no person receiving it on the other end; it was just a wish."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this a little bit ago, but wanted to wait until I finished my ongoing Kleinsen fic to post it. However, after seeing some people on Tumblr talk about a Kleinsen drought, I decided to just go ahead and post it. I hope you enjoy this short, relatively fluffy fic!

Every morning since their fall out, Jared sent the same message. “Good morning, Evan. I hope you have a wonderful day!” He never did get a response.

Of course, it didn’t make any sense for him to get a response. After all, he didn’t send it to a real number. There was no person receiving it on the other end; it was just a wish.

Jared had a contact in his phone labeled Evan with a little tree after it and a contact in his phone labeled Evan with a little heart after it. He was careful to keep the two separate.

Evan Hansen was the one with the tree. He didn’t send messages to that one. The Evan that existed only in his mind was the one with the heart. He sent messages to that one all the time.

And he was so careful. He always doubled checked before he sent anything. He never used Siri to send the messages and always sent from the messaging app proper. There was no way he was ever going to mess it up.

Unless he was hungover. On that morning, Jared was incredibly hungover. He groaned and grabbed his phone. The bright light of the screen made his head hurt worse. “Siri, send message to Evan,” he groaned. “Okay. What would you like to say?” she asked, her voice also hurting his head.

“Good morning, Evan. I hope you have a wonderful day,” he replied. “Here’s your message, do you want to send it?” she asked, still painfully chipper. “Yes,” he grumbled before going back to sleep.

An hour later he woke back up and tended to his headache. He was still in a lot of pain, but felt a little bit better. He still nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone buzzed. Calming himself, he grabbed it and immediately went back into a state of panic.

EVAN:  
_Good morning, Jared. I hope you have a wonderful day too!_

Jared’s heart nearly stopped. He stared in horror at the name on top of his screen. There was a little tree beside it.

JARED:  
_Oh. Sorry about that. Wrong Evan!_

Jared felt bad about shooting Evan down like that, but he really didn’t want to get into this right now. Besides, he was sure that Evan was just being nice.

EVAN:  
_Oh. Well, I hope you have a wonderful day anyways._

Jared bit his lip as he starred at his phone. Did he really want to open himself back up like this? He sighed and then began to type his reply.

JARED:  
_Thanks. Same to you_

Evan smiled at the message. He had been so excited when Jared first texted him. It hurt to realize it was just a mistake, but maybe there was still a little something there after all?

EVAN:  
_Thanks! Has it been so far?_

Jared thought about it for a second.

JARED:  
_Not really. I’m hella hungover right now and I feel like shit._  
_ Talking to you hasn’t been so bad though._

EVAN:  
_Well, I hope you feel better!_

JARED:  
_Thanks. How are you?_

EVAN:  
_I’m good. I mean, I’m not doing much, but it’s good. I have work in a couple of hours._

JARED:  
_Cool_

EVAN:  
_Yeah_

JARED:  
_Well, it was nice talking_

EVAN:  
_Yeah. Talk to you again?_

JARED:  
_Sure_  
_ Sometime_

EVAN:  
_Cool! Talk to you again sometime!_

JARED:  
😎

EVAN:  
😊

Jared sighed as he put down his phone. He supposed that could have gone worse, but it could have gone way better by not happening at all. Still, it was sort of nice to talk to Evan again. Now he just needed to deal with his hangover.

\------- 

The next morning, Jared woke up feeling way better than the last one. He picked up his phone and looked at his text streams. The two Evan ones were his two most recent. It was a little sad that the only people he talked to all weekend were fake Evan and real Evan.

He debated for a few seconds which one he would send his message to before eventually closing his eyes and pressing his thumb down. He opened his eyes and saw the little heart next to Evan’s name and his own heart sank.

He started to type his message out before deleting it and going back to his messages and selecting tree Evan’s name. They had said talk again sometime, hadn’t they?

JARED:  
_Good morning, Evan. I hope you have a wonderful day._

Evan awoke to the sound of his phone buzzing. He grinned when he read the massage.

EVAN:  
_Good morning Jared. I’m having a wonderful day now!_  
_ How about you?_

In his sleepy haze, he had actually just meant for the message to imply he only just woke up, but that obviously wasn’t what it sounded like. Apparently his subconscious was a little more open with his feelings than he wished for it to be.

Jared’s heart leapt when he read the responses. Evan was happy to get his message and wanted to know how he was doing!

JARED:  
_I am too_

Evan realized what he had said a few seconds before Jared replied. He was about to backtrack on it, but after reading Jared’s response, he stopped himself. Was Jared really that happy to hear from him?

EVAN:  
_I’ve missed you_

JARED:  
_I’ve missed you too_

EVAN:  
_So, is this a thing now?_

JARED:  
_Us texting or the morning messages?_

EVAN:  
_Both?_

JARED:  
_If you want it to be_

EVAN:  
_I’ll hear from you again tomorrow morning then!_

JARED:  
_Sounds good!_

EVAN:  
😊

JARED:  
🙃

__

The next morning, Jared sent another morning message out and was met with a happy response from Evan. The same with the morning after and the morning after that. No conversation ever lasted more than a few minutes, and no conversation ever dealt with anything important, but the conversations were still welcome additions to their days.

__

Jared was thrilled to finally get responses back to his texts. It felt so good to not be throwing his feelings at a brick wall anymore. Evan was just happy to have someone to text about things other than shift swapping or homework questions.

__

Their morning greetings went on for a few weeks. They learned the other one’s sleep schedule a little to better mesh when texting. It was a nice feeling to think that each morning someone was going to reach out to them.

__

Then one morning it happened. Jared’s text didn’t come. Evan waited an extra hour for it, thinking that Jared had just fallen asleep. Then another, getting more and more worried with each minute.

__

He went to his morning classes, but even after they ended, there was still no text. He had a couple of free hours, but then he had a shift. If he was going to contact Jared, now was probably the time.

__

Taking a deep breath, Evan navigated to Jared’s contact and hit call. He fidgeted nervously as he waited for Jared to pick up.


	2. Chapter 2

Jared collapsed into his bed and began to sob. How could he have been so stupid? All he wanted was some friends. How could he have messed everything up so badly?

He should have known that they were just making fun of him. None of those guys had ever really been nice to him before, yet Jared had been in a good mood lately and had let his guard down. And now he was completely humiliated.

So Jared lay in bed, scolding himself for his stupidity and hating his classmates for their cruelty until he eventually cried himself asleep.

The next morning, Jared slept in. When he did finally wake up, he felt like shit. He picked up his phone and navigated to his conversations with Evan. They seemed to be a part of his problem. Ever since the two boys started texting, Jared had opened his heart back up a little.

He had been so naive and trusting. He really thought that they wanted him at the party just because they wanted him around. He wouldn’t have thought that before. Maybe letting himself feel again was a mistake after all?

So Jared didn’t text Evan. He locked his phone back up and put it back down beside his bed. He could survive on his own. He had to.

————-

A few hours passed of radio silence. At first Jared was happy to be left alone, but as time went on, he started to regret his decision. Wasn’t it was better to have Evan and be hated by everyone else than to not have Evan and still be hated by everyone else?

Only Evan hadn’t texted him. As the hours stretched on, Jared began to realize that Evan wasn’t going to text him. Without making the initial contact, apparently even Evan didn’t think he was worth it. God, Jared hated himself so much right now.

Fortunately that self-hatred was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. Jared groaned. The only people who ever called Jared were telemarketers and his parents and he had no desire to talk to either right now.

Without bothering to look at the number, Jared hit accept and held the phone up to his ear. “Hello?” he said weakly.

—————

Evan’s heart leapt when he heard the voice on the other end. “Jared!” he exclaimed. “Thank goodness you’re okay! I was so worried about you! You didn’t text this morning and I was worried that something had happened to you, but I didn’t know what to say and tried just waiting, but it’s way too late to be sleeping now and I was just really worried and I...”

Evan stopped talking when he heard a broken laugh coming from the other end. “Jared?” he asked softly. “Are you okay?” Jared sniffled a little. “I am now,” he replied.

Evan’s heart sank. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked gently. Jared sniffled again. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “We don’t have to,” Evan assured him. “I just know that talking can help.” Jared let out a small sigh. “Okay,” he finally agreed. “Let’s talk.”

“So what happened?” Evan prompted gently. “I’m a loser and everyone hates me,” Jared replied, miserably. “That’s not true!” Evan protested. “Isn’t it?” Jared lamented. “The only person in this world who has ever bothered to sometimes give me the time of day is you. Even my parents barely pay any attention to me,” Jared admitted. “I’m just a worthless loser whose only friend only hung out with him until he was able to gather the courage to find real friends.”

Jared’s voice cracked as he spoke and Evan’s heart shattered inside his chest. “Well, for whatever it’s worth, I see you as a friend. I know you might not really view me the same, but I do see you as one. I loved hanging out with you and getting a morning text from you makes every day so much brighter. I know that it was just a mistake that you reached back out to me, but it means the world to me to know that you’re still doing it.”

Jared’s grip on his phone was so tight that his knuckles were turning white. His whole body was shaking and tears streamed down his cheeks. “Evan,” he whimpered. How could he have messed up this badly? “Oh Evan.” Jared felt like an absolute monster. “Do you seriously not know? Do you honestly think that you don’t count as one of my friends?”

Evan frowned in confusion as Jared spoke. “But you said you only had one friend,” he protested. “I did,” Jared replied. “But you said he only wanted you until he could find someone better!” Evan cried. “Am I wrong?” Jared asked softly. “Wh-“ Evan began before suddenly cutting himself off.

His heart sank further as he realized the truth. “Of course you’re wrong,” he replied. “Yet somehow you’re also completely right.” Evan bowed his head and began to sob.

“It’s my fault, isn’t it?” Jared asked gently. Evan let out a confused whimper, so Jared continued. “I made you feel bad about yourself. I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I treated you poorly, yet got upset when you didn’t want to be with me. You don’t need to blame yourself for any of this, Evan. You just need to understand that you are the friend I lost. You are the one and only person in this world who I have ever been able to connect with.”

“But you were there for me when I needed you. You always were. All I needed to do was ask and you would be there,” Evan protested. “And what about the times you were too afraid to ask?” Jared countered. “What about all the times you were afraid I would make fun of you or turn you down, so you said nothing? And what about when you asked me to sign your cast? I didn’t know what to write on it or if you would be mocked for having my name there, so I just turned you down. But I was so mean about it. I was always so mean about everything.”

Evan sniffled and shook his head. “You were pretty mean about that, but you weren’t always mean. You were the one safe place I could go. And I pushed you aside to chase my fantasies.” “Feeling loved and cared for shouldn’t be a fantasy,” Jared protested. He thought back to all those lonely years. All those stupid mistakes and hurt feelings. Could he really do it now?

Jared took a deep breath. “You want to know who the other Evan I meant to text that morning I first texted you was?” Evan bit his lip. In the course of their conversation, Evan had almost come to believe that Jared had texted him on purpose. It was a little disappointing to hear that wasn’t true. Yet he wasn’t going to admit that, so instead he just said “Sure.”

“You,” Jared replied. Evan’s eyes grew wide. So it actually was him? “Well, not exactly you,” Jared then admitted. Okay, now Evan was confused. “It was a fake you,” Jared continued. “A fake you I texted every morning with the hope that my sentiments would reach the real you. I was too afraid to reach back out, but I never let go of my feelings towards you. It was only a mistake with Siri that caused me to reach back out again. I’m really grateful that I did though. Talking to you each morning is the highlight of my day.”

“We could talk more,” Evan offered. “We could wish each other a good night too! And we could send each other pictures and memes and just whatever during the day. I’ve missed you so much Jared! But your sentiments don’t come through unless you send them. I can barely read peoples’ moods when they are right there. How could I do it when I can’t even see you?”

Jared let out a little laugh. “You read me far better than you ever knew Evan. I was just a hot mess of emotions that even I didn’t understand. But I’m starting to understand them and I’m starting to accept them. Did you know that the other Evan’s name, the fake one I texted each day, had a heart by it? Yours didn’t need one because hearts appeared in my eyes just looking at it. Just thinking about you…”

Jared trailed off. He was really going to do this, wasn’t he? “I love you, Evan. Not just loved, but still love now. I have since middle school and I don’t think it will ever change. Maybe one day I’ll get over you and be able to move on, but there will never come a time when my feelings towards you will change. I’m certain of it.”

“Why do you have to get over it?” Evan asked. “You don’t mind that I feel this way about you?” Jared asked, surprised. “Why would I mind?” Evan insisted. “I mean, sure it’s a lot to take in, but why would I ever be upset that you feel this way about me. I mean, I guess it implies that you see yourself as so worthless that you would be happy dating someone like-“

“Whoa there!” Jared said, cutting Evan off. “None of that! I fell in love with the most incredible human being this world has ever had the pleasure of seeing! No one could ever be worthy of your love unless you deem them to be.” Evan snorted a little. “Well, then I deem you worthy. I mean, you were my first crush, so how could you not be?”

“What?” Jared asked, in shock. Evan smiled at the memory. “I thought I would never have any chance with a cool, straight guy like yourself. Zoe was my second crush. She was almost as unattainable, but slightly more realistic, so…” “Zoe was the more realistic one?” Jared scoffed. “Dude, she was a hot and popular girl and I was just some lonely and nerdy…” “…straight boy,” Evan finished for Jared. 

“I thought you were straight. You always acted like you were super sexually attracted to girls,” Evan protested. “That’s because I was embarrassed,” Jared admitted. “I didn’t want you to hate me.” “I’ll never hate you,” Evan promised. “I never have hated you. Even after our fall out, I just wanted you back. I’m sorry I wasn’t a good friend to you there in the end. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” “And I’m sorry I wasn’t a good friend the rest of the time,” Jared apologized.

From either end of the phone, the two boys smiled at each other. “Does this mean we’re friends again?” Jared finally asked. “You have never stopped being my friend,” Evan replied. “Nor you to me,” Jared agreed. “I’m just glad we can finally admit it again.” Evan’s smile grew wider. “I’m so glad I have you back to stay now. I’m looking forward to texting you more regularly. Now I’ll have something to look forward to at night as well.” Jared grinned at the thought.

“We should Skype sometimes too. I love hearing your voice now and would love to see your face.” “Then let’s do it tonight,” Evan agreed. “I have to go to work soon, but let’s talk after my shift!” “Perfect!” Jared agreed. “I can’t wait!” “Me neither,” Evan replied. His cheeks were starting to hurt from how wide his smile had grown, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t alone now and Jared wasn’t either. The lingering pain in his heart from their falling out was slowly beginning to fade. His entire world seemed a little better now.


	3. Chapter 3

True to their word, the two boys Skyped that night. And the next one, and the one after that. They didn’t Skype every day, but it happened at least once a week. The texts, on the other hand, became even more frequent. Every morning they texted each other a good morning and every evening they wished each other a good night. Since their sleeping schedules didn’t perfectly line up, whichever went to bed or got up first would initiate. 

Jared had to admit that it was really nice to wake up to a text instead of always sending first. The idea that he wasn’t the only one who wanted to keep the conversations going was incredible. 

Yet nothing was more incredible that the text he suddenly found himself staring at now. “Good morning, Jare Bear! I hope you have a wonderful day! ❤️” Jared could hardly believe his eyes. Beyond the use of the absurd nickname, Jared just couldn’t get over the heart emoji. What did it mean? Was it just platonic love? Evan knew that Jared had romantic feelings for him, so a platonic love heart was a little cruel, yet Jared also knew that Evan wasn’t the most nuanced person in the world, so it could be completely unintentional. Not that Jared was the most nuanced person in the world himself.

“Good morning, Evy! How could I not when I have your messages to look forward to? 😏” Jared replied. Evan snorted when he read Jared’s message. “That was so sweet and then you had to throw in that damn smirking emoji and ruin it!” He complained. Jared grinned. He loved it when Evan got riled up. An exasperatedly cursing Evan was just about the most adorable thing in the entire world.

“You know you love me, Evy!” Jared replied. He then sent another smirking emoji for good measure. “Goddamnit Jared Kleinman, why must you vex me so?” Evan protested. “Because you know you love it?” Jared offered. Evan rolled his eyes. Okay. So he did sort of love it, but he wasn’t going to give Jared the satisfaction of knowing that.

“Only in your dreams, Jared,” he replied. “Oh, you’re in my dreams alright!” Jared replied. As he was preparing to hit send on another smirking emoji, he received a response from Evan. “So help me Jared if you send another smirking emoji…” Jared cackled and hit send.

Evan realized the second he mentioned dreams what Jared was going to say. He was not at all surprised by the next two texts he received. He wasn’t sure if his text reached Jared before he hit send, but he assumed it would come either way. And he wouldn’t change this for the world. 

By this point, Evan was pretty sure that Jared was just blatantly flirting with him. After Jared confessed his feelings and Evan didn’t completely shoot him down, the flirting tentatively started. As Evan continued to allow it, it got more and more brazen. Evan wasn’t good at flirting back, but he had improved greatly in playing along with Jared’s banter. It was far more good-natured now than it had been back in high school and a lot easier to understand under the lens of Jared’s crush. 

At first, Evan had kept his reactions very clearly platonic. The last thing he wanted was to lead Jared on. Only Evan found that he sort of really liked watching Jared get all flustered and blushy too. The platonic feelings of joy at seeing his friend happy could explain part of what Evan was feeling, but not all of it. So Evan started flirting back.

Only Jared didn’t seem to notice. Evan didn’t really blame him for it. It was probably a really subtle change from his normal texting behavior and neither boy was known for their ability to read subtlety. So this morning, Evan had tried something else. It was only a simple heart emoji, yet it was something neither boy had ever sent to anyone before. 

Jared still hadn’t seemed to register Evan’s tone shift, or at least he hadn’t remarked on it. Evan wondered if maybe he was trying too hard. If he was developing feelings for Jared, shouldn’t he just tell him? The lack of communication was a huge part of their problem before.

So Evan started to type out a message to Jared. Then delete it. Then try typing it again. As Evan worked on his tenth draft, another message came in. “Hey, so I saw your message after I sent that smirk. You’re not seriously trying to torture me here, are you? You’ve been starting messages and deleting them for like ten minutes now. I get it. I’m a dick. I’m sorry!” Jared protested, only lying a little about the order of events. 

Evan winced when he saw the text. He quickly deleted his newest attempt and sent a message. “Sorry about that! I was trying to figure out how to say something. I didn’t realize I was driving you crazy there!” 

Jared frowned when he saw Evan’s message. If he was having trouble saying something, then he must have something important to talk about.

Evan nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone started ringing. He sighed in relief when he saw it was just Jared. “Hey Jare,” he said as he picked up. “Hey Evy. You okay?” Jared replied, concerned. Evan felt a small pang in his heart when he heard the concern in Jared’s voice. He didn’t like making the other boy worry, but he did like the feeling of being cared about.

“I’m okay, Jared. Nothing is wrong. There’s just something I wanted to tell you and couldn’t figure out how to do it. It’s not something bad. At least I hope it isn’t. Hopefully it’s something good, but if it is bad, then I’m not sure what to do. And I’m having trouble saying it because I don’t know for sure it’s good, but I think it is and I want it to be and I…”

Jared cut Evan off with a laugh. “For god’s sake Evan, just tell me! If it’s good, we’ll celebrate it together, and if for some reason I don’t think it’s good, I’ll be sure to explain why. But I’m sure if you think it’s good, I’ll think it’s good too.”

Evan smiled, empowered by Jared’s support. Surely someone who cared this much about him would be happy to hear about his crush? “So, I, I mean, I,” Evan stuttered. “Take your time,” Jared replied without a hint of mockery in his voice. Evan took a deep breath. “You know how I sent you a heart today?” he began. Jared’s heart skipped a beat. He liked where this was going.

“I do,” he replied. “I assume that was on purpose?” he asked quickly, suddenly worried that maybe Evan had just made a mistake and wanted to clear things up. “What? Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it…” Evan trailed off. “Oh! Oh no! I’m not trying to clear up a mistake here. I meant exactly what I implied when I sent the emoji!” he quickly reassured Jared.

Jared’s breath caught in his throat. “So t-then you, you, you like m-me?” Jared asked hopefully. “Is that okay?” Evan asked nervously. Jared snorted in disbelief. “Did you seriously just ask me if it’s okay by me that you return my feelings?” Evan let out a little giggle. Hearing it, Jared started to laugh too. “Oh, Evy,” he said, his laugh getting stronger.

Before long, both boys were cracking up. There were tears streaming down their faces. “Evy,” Jared said again. “Jare Bear,” Evan replied followed by another burst of laughter. Their hearts felt so light. Love, this was what love felt like. This was the difference between a crush and love. Their mutual happiness echoed across the phone. Neither ever wanted that feeling to disappear.

\--------

Of course Evan and Jared did eventually need to hang up and part ways. They couldn’t spend the rest of their lives laughing on the phone together. But that didn’t stop the texts a couple hours later. Or the ones before bed that evening. And it didn’t stop Jared from deleting the tree next to Evan’s name. He had deleted the “Evan ❤️” contact from his phone a couple months prior, but now it was back. Of course this time, when he sent a text to it, he without a doubt got a text in response.

And texting was hardly their only communication medium anymore. When Evan finally worked up the courage to talk to Zoe, he called Jared up and told him every little detail of their meeting. When Jared finally found himself happily settled in a friend group, he sent Evan an invite to the group chat. And when Evan got his acceptance letter to a college only a twenty-minute bus ride away from Jared’s, the two boys realized that face-to-face communication was finally an option.

Although they would also get that over the summer. Jared would be returning home in less than a month and he and Evan already had tons of plans together. There were so many things they wanted to do. But mainly they just wanted to be together. It was a desire Jared had once completely given up on, but now it was just a simple countdown until it became a reality. It was such a far cry from those lonely texts that it made him want to laugh.

Who would have ever guessed that a hangover and a shity AI would save his broken heart? In the movies, they were often the ingredients that created the problems, not the solutions. But Jared guessed that his relationship with Evan had never really been a normal one, so maybe it wasn’t so weird after all. 

Jared opened up his text stream to Evan and began to type. He was sure Evan would find his late night musings interesting. Or at least smile at them as he teased Jared for being an idiot. Either one was good.


End file.
